so steve is live for us in washington with the very latest. all right, good morning to you, steve. >> good morning, gretchen. yeah, the house as you know, tried and failed to pass some kind of a compromise on that fiscal cliff. now the spotlight falls on the u.s. senate. some kind of deal could have a better chance there because the senate is not as bitterly divided as the house. success depends partly on whether mitch mcconnell decides to filibuster any legislation. there is senate republicans who are willing to compromise in order to avoid the fiscal cliff. including kay bailey hutchison of texas and johnny isakson of georgia. >> time is running out. and the truth of the matter is, if we do fall off the cliff after the president's maturitied, he'll come back, propose just what he proposed yesterday in leaving washington and we'll end up adopting it. why should we put the markets mn such turmoil and the people in misunderstanding or lack of confidence? why don't we go ahead and act now? >> the president is insisting tacks go up for the wealth